The OLPC's interface is simply way too complicated. I just read through the human interface guidelines for the project; and by god, I got lost after only a few paragraphs. How are kids supposed to learn all this? Read on for my thoughts.
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Member since:2006-08-31
Again, what presumes that Gnome, KDE, Windows, and OS X are God's Gift to Earth and that they are the only "right" way to go? You seem to presume a linear progression that always ends up at Windows/etc as the only possible endpoint. As for "help them move ahead" is pretty much bigotry, presuming that what you've got offers so much more value to everybody that anything that's _not_ like what you've got is useless. There are other ways of doing things. And it's not outlandish to presume that because 10 million kids might grow up using something _other_ than Windows, that they also might spend their adult lives using something _other_ than Windows.
Furthermore, the task here is not to teach them Windows or teach them a "normal"/"western"-derived computing paradigm. It's not to prepare children to grow up and work in a call center (which many times use just web apps anyway). It's to _teach_ them, period. But not about WIMP, that's shortsighted. To teach literacy, mathematics, culture, language, communication, etc.
Member since:2005-08-11
"Again, what presumes that Gnome, KDE, Windows, and OS X are God's Gift to Earth and that they are the only "right" way to go"
Are you thick? I did not say they are the right way to go, I said they are using the most prevalent UI paradigm. Regardless of the flaws, Gnome/KDE/Windows/OS X use the same basic design, and that design is used by the VAST majority of computer interfaces on the planet. Therefore, by forcing a different UI convention on the target group for this laptop, they will grow up using a different paradigm then the other 99.9% of the world, and that would leave them at a disadvantage.
" As for "help them move ahead" is pretty much bigotry, presuming that what you've got offers so much more value to everybody that anything that's _not_ like what you've got is useless"
WTF? It's not bigotry, it's common sense, I want everybody to succeed, so the playing field should be level for EVERYBODY, regardless of the flaws, the current UI design is what everybody uses, and if they have to relearn how to use a GUI, because they were used as guinea pigs to test a new UI design, then they lose, compared to the rest of the world, as they will have to take time to get to speed on the conventions the rest of the world uses. It's not bigotry, it's the opposite.
"Furthermore, the task here is not to teach them Windows or teach them a "normal"/"western"-derived computing paradigm. It's not to prepare children to grow up and work in a call center (which many times use just web apps anyway). It's to _teach_ them, period. But not about WIMP, that's shortsighted. To teach literacy, mathematics, culture, language, communication, etc"
Considering computer skills are very important for kids today to learn, that entire paragraph is useless. They have to learn to use a computer, as well as learn to do math, learn geography, chemistry, what have you. To not to teach them to use standard GUI interfaces is shortsighted, if something better comes along, it should be available by choice, not fiat.
Member since:2005-07-11
Which is more important:
- knowing what a Start button is, what a taskbar is, what that annoying little popup bubble means, knowing that WIN+E brings up Explorer, WIN+R brings up Run, etc
- knowing how to explore an interface to see how it works, knowing what an application is and the various ways to start them, knowing how to find information (help system, manuals, etc)
IOW, which is more important: learning a specific application, or learning how to learn?
The problem with a lot of things "educational" is that they teach specific applications, specific interfaces, specific OSes as "that is what the world uses". Instead, they should be teaching concepts that can be applied to multiple situations (ie: how to properly format a document, not where the bold button is on the MS Word toolbar). We are supposed to be preparing our kids to think for themselves, to learn for themselves, to be imaginative. We are not supposed to be turning them into drones that can't do anything without a script.
Kids can do / learn a lot more than we give them credit for. Let's not artificially hobble them more than we already do.
Member since:2005-07-06
>IOW, which is more important: learning a specific application, or learning how to learn?
Teaching to learn, Teaching to learn and I repeat again Teaching to learn.
I learnt the basics of spreadsheets on Visicalc, and had no problems learning to use 123, CompuCalc, Excel, and any of a dozen more spread-sheets thru the years. I even remember teaching a friend how to use the spread-sheet program for his computer and I had never seen or heard of it before I walked into his apartment. Today, the average Excel user is lost if you put they in front of another spread-sheet because they did not learn how to use spread-sheets, they learnt how to use Excel only!
I have seen the same with Word vs wordprocessing programs.
People who can't use more than one type of paint program (tends to be less of a problem with graphic artists who already usually need to use more than one paint/illustration program from day one).
Teach the kids the basics of computers and they will learn the rest on their own - just give them good, complete reference material (The source is a good start).
And as been pointed out, the purpose of these machines is not really to teach about computers but to give access to the vast amounts of knowledge that can be stored/accessed by them. Any machine by itself can easily store 30-100 books and with the mesh network thousands of books can be online in a large village without even any outside internet access. With even a single server with DVD drives or the new x00*GB hard drives entire libraries can be made available.
I have not forgotten what it was like to find information without the internet - I had a number regular walking routes that lead me to 5 public libraries, 6 schools that let me use their libraries, one college, and one private library. Often I still could not find what I wanted and if I did only one library had a copy.
These computers are to help kids learn about any subject these can learn about.
Edited 2006-11-30 06:52
Member since:2005-08-11
"OW, which is more important: learning a specific application, or learning how to learn?"
Learning how to use a computer the same way everybody else does, while learning how to learn, kills two birds with one UI. I am not talking about Windows, all major GUIs use the same design.
If when these kids grow up, and forced to give up thier OLPC for the computers at work, they will be at a disadvantage compared to the people who know how to use the standard GUIs. It's that simple. and when this happens, they will be young adults, not children
Member since:
2005-08-11
Because whatever OS they move onto after that will use the "normal" pardigm, Gnome, KDE, Windows, OS X, whatever, and they'll fall behind other people in trying to do thier tasks/jobs/assignments until they catch up. Instead of shackling them to a UI that is flawed, you are creating a class of people who don't understand the current and highly relevant UI. It seems like it is designed to hold the target audience back, not help them move ahead